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Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1951. With the tagline “Something more than Beer” followed by “… a mark of good taste,” a couple is apparently unwrapping wedding gifts. The expression on the woman’s face is priceless as she looks over a statue she’s just opened, while her new hubby arrives to rescue her with a tray of beers and snacks.

The publishers of a new online magazine, Modern Farmer, let me know about an interesting article in their latest issue, Meet The Micro-Malts, about the trend of locally grown barley and wheat for brewing. I’ve been hearing more and more from brewers looking for ways to get their ingredients closer to home, and this is certainly one of the first steps in making that more of a reality. We also need more small, regional malting houses, too. I wonder if anybody’s addressing that need?

I know it’s late notice but Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef, is doing a beer dinner tomorrow night, Thursday April 11, in conjunction with the Sonoma Film Festival. The dinner is sponsored by New Belgium Brewing but also features beer from several breweries. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at Ramekins Culinary School & Inn located at 450 West Spain Street in Sonoma. Tickets for the four-course dinner are $75 and can be purchased at Eventbrite. Sean’s dinners tend to be amazing, and I’m confident this one will be no different. And because it’s a school night, it’s a modest dinner by his standards, a good one to start with if you haven’t been to one his extravaganzas before.

Today’s infographic is a homebrewing chart showing the balance value of different types of beer based on their bitterness units and their gravity units. It was created by a homebrewer and posted on his own personal homebrewing website.

This is my seventh annual annotated list of the Top 50 so you can see who moved up and down, who was new to the list and who dropped off. So here is this year’s list again annotated with how they changed compared to last year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev; #1 last seven years, no surprises

MillerCoors; ditto for #2

Pabst Brewing; ditto for #3

D. G. Yuengling and Son; Same as last year

Boston Beer Co.; Same as last year

North American Breweries; 3rd year on the list, same position as last year

Sierra Nevada Brewing; Same as last year

New Belgium Brewing; Same as last year

Craft Brewers Alliance; Same as last year

Gambrinus Company; Same as last year

Minhas Craft Brewery; Up 3 from #14 last year

Deschutes Brewery; Down one from #11 last year

Lagunitas Brewing; Up 3 from #16 last year after jumping up 10 from #26 the previous year, having been at #36 three years back

Bell’s Brewery; Down 1 from #13 last year

Matt Brewing; Down 3 from #12 last year

Harpoon Brewery; Down 1 from #15 last year

Stone Brewing; Up 1 from #18 last year

Brooklyn Brewery; Up 2 from #20 last year, after jumping up 5 the year before

Boulevard Brewing; Down 2 from #17 last year

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Down 1 from last year, after being up 5, 9, 5 and 4 the four previous years

Abita Brewing; Up 4 from #25 last year

World Brew/Winery Exchange; Up 4 from #26 last year, after jumping up 11 the previous year

Shipyard Brewing; Up 1 from last year, having moved up 4 the prior year

Alaskan Brewing; Down 2 from #21 last year, their second drop in as many years

August Schell Brewing; Down 2 from last year, also their second drop in as many years

New Glarus Brewing; Up 2 again this year from #28 last year

Long Trail Brewing; Down 5 from #22 last year

Great Lakes Brewing; Down 1 from last year, after jumping up 4 the previous year

Firestone Walker Brewing; Up 4 from #33 last year, after rising 3 spots the year before

Anchor Brewing; Up 2 from #32 last year

Rogue Ales Brewery; Up 5 from #36 last year

Summit Brewing; Down 1 from #31 last year

Full Sail Brewing; Down 4 from #29 last year

SweetWater Brewing; Up 1 from #35 last year, having rise 3 the year before

Victory Brewing; Up 4 from #39 last year

Oskar Blues Brewing; Up 5 from #36 last year, having jumped up 8 the previous year

Pittsburgh Brewing (fka Iron City); Down 7 from #30 last year

Mendocino Brewing; Down 1 from #37 last year

Cold Spring Brewing; Down 5 from #34 last year, after jumping up 13 the prior year

Flying Dog Brewery; Down 2 from #38 last year

Founders Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year

Ninkasi Brewing; Up 2 from #44 last year

CraftWorks Breweries & Restaurants (Gordon Biersch/Rock Bottom); Down 3 from #40 last year, after the two merged during 2011 and were #42 and #48 in the year before the merger

Odell Brewing; Down 2 from #42 last year

Bear Republic Brewing; Up 2 in their second year on the list

Stevens Point Brewery; Down 3 from #43 last year

Blue Point Brewing; Down 1 from #46 last year

Southern Tier Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year

Lost Coast Brewery; Same as last year in their second year on the list

Karl Strauss Breweries; San Diego CA; Not in Top 50 last year

Not too much movement this year, except for a few small shufflings. Only three new breweries made the list; Founders, Southern Tier and Karl Strauss.

Off the list was BJs Restaurant & Brewery, Narragansett Brewing and Goose Island Beer, which had plummeted 30 from #18 the year before, after selling their production brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The Brewers Association has also just announced the top 50 breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2012. This includes all breweries, regardless of size or other parameters. Here is the new list:

The Brewers Association just announced the top 50 craft breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2012, which is listed below here. For the sixth year, they’ve also released a list of the top 50 breweries, which includes all breweries. Here is the new craft brewery list: